Growing.( Psalm 139 v 23-24)

Recently I was measured as to my height and discover that  I had shrunk  from five foot seven to five foot four and half inches,it has not happened suddenly,As an Irish man I rightly may be called one of the little people.  I first realised when one gets older one shrinks,when I visited and elderly aunt I hadn't seen for a long time,she was smaller than I remember her. But the bigger question I ask myself,am  I growing spititually?,I wouldn't like to think that I'm shrinking spiritually,I hope not.There are many things  that would indicate spiriual growth,one writer declares that spiritual growth includes,spiritual discipline,self examination,serving community, humility, and so on.  One even mentions different tools to help us grow, prayer.,the word of God,meditation, fasting and fellowship'. It appears that one has to  work hard as regards being spiritual,that's true to some extent,yes it is very challenging,but it is impossible to grow spiritually  without relying on the holy Spirit.,I believe we must spend  much time in the presence of God,like Enoch of old,for we read he walked faithfully with God.(Genesis 5 v 24)When Moses met with God on Mount Sinai it affected his appearance,his face shone,but here is the thing,he was unaware of it.{ Exodus 34 v 29)Spiritual growth  is a daily walk with our eye on Jesus,always aware we are far from perfect.

                                                         'May we walk with Jesus

                                                         And in His lkeness grow,

                                                         That in our daily walk

                                                          We may His Fragrance show,

                                                          That word and life may both agree,

                                                           A faithful witness ,Lord ,for Thee.  (C.C.White)

The greatest good. ( Romans 10 v15 )

It was Machiavellion in his book 'the Prince' ,who emphasized the greater good,it was Stalin who slept with a copy of that  book under his pillow. Stalin who was an athiest applied that phrase to justify all the wicked things he did,And of course Hitler in his madness and evilness,would have applied this to his obsession of exterminating the Jews,and those who followed him agreed with him.As Christians can we take on that phrase? yes we can,but not to justify doing evil of anykind.so let us  consider the greatest good we can do for mankind.The greatest good that we can do for mankind is to tell them about Jesus, it's as simple as that,yes it may be simple,but many of us don't do it. The question is why? after all it is good news, sins can be forgiven,the power of sin can be broken in peoples lives.They can stop walking in the darkness, and start walking in the light,no longer is their eternal destiny hell,and the awfulness of that, instead they will be going to heaven,and the wonderfulnes of that,just because we told them about a wonderful Saviour.

Bring them to Jesus, ( Matthew 19 v 13-15)

I was in a restaurant recently,and I witnessed a little child being a bit stroppy,and this thought came to me, 'Every child has a will of it's own',no matter how young they are.',and that does not change as they grow older.Can a young child come to Christ,of course they can,age is no barrier to coming to Christ,be that person a child or a very old person .I read a story of a very elderly lady ,she may have been a 100,and she came to Christ.'She said to the minister, isn't it wonderful that a person of 100 can come to Christ,the minister replied yes,''but risky''The fact is the younger we come to Christ ,the better,for not only will our soul be saved,but our  lives will be saved from so much that is evil. If  Adolf Hitler had come as a child to Christ he would have been a better person than he turned out to be. I believe in Child evangelism with all my heart,because they need Christ just as much as any adult needs him. It is said that 18 percent of children in our churches identify becoming a Christian age 5,and 31percent between the ages of 5-14.In some chuches the minister speaks as if child do not need to be saved,but they do.As I was out walking and thinking about this a little chorus came to mind ,and I started to sing it gently to myself,here it is.

                                                       'Jesus died for little Children

                                                       All the children of the world,

                                                       Red and yellow ,black and white,

                                                       All our precious in His sight,

                                                       Jesus died for little children'

                                                        

Look up (Psalm 121)

'There are a collection of 14 Psalms,120-134 that are called, Psalms of ascent, which would be sung  by the Hebrew pilgrims  as they journeyed to Jerusalem for the religious festivals.They reminded them of God's mercy ,grace and provision.giving them a sense of unity and hope',(Introduction by a commentator) But now as children of God  we are strangers and pilgrims on earth,we are on a spiritual pilgrimage to heaven and home.The best known of these psalms is 121, both 121/123 have a similar opening,of looking beyond any earthly help to God in heaven.It is a conscious looking up, beyond the distractions of this life.it is a look of faith.He reminds us our God is the God who made heaven and earth.Our sovereign God watches over all His children individually,not one of them are out of His sight. God is not a man  He is God and the only God,for He declares,'I am the Lord,and there is no other'.(Isaiah 45 v 18) He will protect and preserve us from all harm.

                                                   

                                                           'The Lord shall preserve thee

                                                            from all evil; He shall preserve

                                                            thy soul.

                                                            The Lord shall preserve thy going

                                                             out and thy coming in from this day

                                                             Forth,and even for evermore.'   

                                                                               v 7-8

                                                       

                                                 

                                                  

Telling others.'( Acts 1 v 8)

 Coming back to Malta and St Paul's bay, not far fron the shore line there is a tiny island ,and on that island there is a statue of Paul,it shows him standing looking out over the sea. Paul was a man with a mission that mission was to preach the gospel,in 1 Corinthians 9 v 16 he declares ,'Woe is unto me,if I preach not the gospel'.people  need to hear the Gospel and they won't hear unless someone tells them,in Romans 10  v13 we read,'For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved,'yes we agree on that,but then in verse 14 ,but then we read ,'How shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed?and  how can they believe in Him of whom they have not heard?; So Paul made it his task to preach the gospel, and so should we.Paul was the personification  of Isaac Wattts hymn',When I survey the wondrous cross' and that  last verse,'Love so amazing so divine ,demands my soul ,my life, my all',and he really meant that,Read 2Corinthians 11 v 23-27,just some of the things he endured for the task of telling others the gospel.In spite of all he suffered ,he never give up,and he declared shortly before he was going to suffer  a martyrs death ,'I have fought a good fight,I have finished the course,I have kept the faith.2 Timothy 4 v7). John Bunyan wrote,

                                                          'There's no discouragement

                                                           Shall make him once relent

                                                           His first avowed intent,

                                                           To be a pilgrim'.

Historical miraculous events. (Matthew 9 v 1-8)

My wife and I are holidaying in the island of Malta,so I am doing this blog from the hotel we are staying in.So far the internet is working,I am praying it will continue to work while we are here . In the northern region of Malta there is a bay called St Paul;s bay, it gets it's name from that moment when the ship that was carrying  Paul  to Rome to stand trial before Caesar was shipwrecked on the island of Melita,now known as Malta ,read about it in Acts 27-28. Two  miraculous things happened while Paul was on the Island,he was bitten by a venomous serpent and he surviived,there were those who thought he was going  to die,Next  he healed the chief man of the islands father,we read that Paul prayed for this man and laid hands on him and he was healed.These two things  really happened,they are historical events ,we should make much of the fact that the Bible is a historical book, not a book of mythology in other words made up stories.Moses was real the miracles recorded during his life really happened.Jesus was a real person,born of a virgin,miraculously performed miracles, died and rose from the dead, are true historical facts,I make no apologies for declaring that. One of the most miraculous things he ever did was to die on a cross that our sins could be forgiven. 

                                                  'It took a mircle to put the stars in place,

                                                   It took a miracle to hang the world in space,

                                                   But when He saved my soul ,

                                                    Cleansed and made me whole,

                                                    It took a miacle of love and grace.

                                                                   John Peterson

                                                     

Are you thirsty?. ( Revelation 21 v 6)

 Precious gems and gold are valued by most people,but I tell you what's more precious  ,water,if we have no water we die,water is essential to life itself.If the farmer does not get rain  his crops will die,and the knock on affect of that is people die for lack of food. The natural water quenches our thirst,but our Saviour spoke to a lady at a well,   (John  4 )and He said,'Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water  I give them will never thirst .Indeed the water that I give them  will become in them a spring of water wellling up to eternal life'. v 13-14. Jesus is using water as a symbol,that points us beyond the natural water,what is the cry of  mankind, ''I thirst, I thirst'',Mankind has a want in them,and to fulfill that want,they get addicted to drugs,nicotine food,sex,gambling, obsessive  shopping,sport etc.I knew a lady who had an obsession ,everyday she kept looking for that which would make her happy,her life was ruled by that,she never succeeded in really being happy.So let us return to what Jesus said about giving us living water,what does He mean?,He means that when we ask Christ into our lives,we will experience a truly fulfilled life.the hymn writer declared .

                                                 'O Christ in Thee my soul hath found,

                                                  And found in Thee alone,

                                                  The peace ,the joy I sought so long,

                                                  The bliss till now unknown.

                                                   Now none but Christ can satisfy,

                                                   None other name for me:

                                                   There's love and life and lasting joy,

                                                    Lord Jesus,found in Thee.'